Browsing through popsci.com ran into their list of  top 100 innovations from 2008.  The list is  published in a form of a browsable images, and just would take too long to look through the whole list. They also list the  Best of What's new in 2008.

It is the end of the year so these lists keep popping up again. Do you have any good candidates for THE top innovation from this year? E.g. Time magazine has collected their list, including a retail DNA test, the LHC that I covered earlier in my blog, Global seed vault, bullets that shoot bullets, etc. The Scientist's list is naturally very science based, featuring e.g. continuous focus microscope, open source gene sequencing instrument, and other items that I cannot comprehend. Go and take look.

My personal vote for the best of the best from this gang would be the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Here's what Time writes: "Almost every nation keeps collections of native seeds so local crops can be replanted in case of an agricultural disaster. The Global Seed Vault, opened this year on the far-northern Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, is a backup for the backups. It's badly needed — as many as half the seed banks in developing countries are at risk from natural disasters or general instability. The vault can hold up to 4.5 million samples, which will be kept dry at about 0°F (-18°C)."

image by Dean C.K. Cox from The Times